Contributions of Recreation to Environmental Interpretation in Protected Natural Areas

Abstract

The environmental interpretation supports an education proposal based on experience, interest, and the construction of meanings and the recognition of the potential of the environment, for the development of activities with an educational purpose in outside spaces. This article shows a reflection about some environmental interpretation activities proposed by students of the Degree in Recreation and Tourism of the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional and implemented in some protected areas of Colombia. The proposed activities show how recreation contributes to the exercise of environmental interpretation, constituting a field of action from which gradu­ates can contribute to the conservation of Colombian biophysical and sociocultural diversity, as well as recognizing protected areas as pedagogical scenarios that promote the care, preservation and social value of natural environments. These elements suggest that the articulation between environmental interpretation and recreation from the pedagogical knowledge configure a sce­nario of action that help the relationship of protected areas with different actors of the territory.